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476 HISTORY OF THE INDIAN NAVY.
to the members of his own former Service, notwithstanding
that, with the exception of the captains of the Company's
trading ships, none of the officers held relative rank with the
army—a privilege conferred on the Bombay Marine by the
Regulations of 1798, and confirmed by the Warrant of the
Prince Regent in 1814. Thus it happened that, though Cap-
tain Meriton was an honest servant to his masters in Leaden-
hall Street, he never commanded either the confidence or regard
of the Service, as did his predecessors, Messrs. Dundas
and Money, the two first Superintendents of the Bombay
Marine.
Captain Meriton was a consistent opponent of any augmen-
tation of the Service, or increase of benefits such as were from
time to time granted to the army, and, as the Marine refused to
join in any agitation for increased emoluments or privileges
when such a course was proposed by the sister Service, and as
it had no representative in the Court of Directors, being the
only public service unrepresented in that august assembly—it
happened that, while the claims of the Army received consider-
ation, those of the Bombay Marine were systematically evaded.
Individually, few officers had special cause of complaint, but
collectively all were dissatisfied, for Captain Meriton possessed
none of that suaviter in modo, which is as necessary in the
head of a service as the fortiter in re; thus, remarkable for his
great charities, he was the reverse of urbane, and during the
twelve years of his tenure of office was never known even to
invite an officer of the Marine to his table. On the other hand
he was a laborious, conscientious servant, and, if he exacted
much from his subordinates, never spared himself, but reduced
the expenses of his own office and did all the work single-
handed. He was also a first-rate seaman and strict discipli-
narian, but, nevertheless, the Service was relieved at the resig-
nation of so unsympathetic a head. Captain Buchanan, also
of the " regular service," succeeded Captain Meriton, and,
during his tenure of office, was much liked for his social gifts
and the attention he paid to the officers ; he was just also, but
on the other hand took little interest in advancing the Service.
He revived the post of Assistant-Superintendent, and threw
fresh vigour into the surveys, in which he always took a
decided interest. In this he found a warm supporter in that
great Governor and good man, Mountstuart Eiphinstone, to
whose initiative, indeed, was due the surveys of the Persian
Gulf, the Concan, the Red Sea, and other hydrographic labours
undertaken by the Marine.
After the Burmese War, the sloops-of-war ' Teignmouth,'
sixteen guns, 'Mercury,' fourteen guns, 'Prince of Wales,'
fourteen guns, and the ten-gun brigs ' Vestal ' and ' Psyche,'
were condemned and sold out of the Service, and, besides the